PTCL lands high-speed cable at Karachi – Pakistan

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tele­communication Com­pany Ltd (PTCL) has successfully landed the Africa-1 submarine internet cable at Karachi.

In a statement on Saturday, the telecom company said the cable made its landfall at the landing site at Sea View Beach.

“It marks a transformative step in enhancing Pakistan’s digital connectivity,” the statement said.

The cable, with a speed of 96 terabits per second, is expected to come online next year.

PTCL is part of an eight-company global consorti­um operating the Africa-1 cable.

Other companies in the consortium are Saudi Arabia’s Mobily; UAE’s e& and G42; Telecom Egypt; Zain Omantel International; Alger­ia’s Algérie Télécom; and TeleYemen.

The cable system spanning 10,000 kilometres uses “state-of-the-art ad­­vanced technologies” and will link Pakistan to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Fran­­ce, Kenya, and Djibouti, PTCL added.

Other than Karachi, the Afica-1 cable has landing stations in Bejaia, Algeria; Djibouti City, Djibouti; Port Said and Ras Ghareb, Egypt; Marseille, France; Mombasa, Kenya; Duba, Saudi Arabia; Berbera, Somalia; Kalba, UAE; and Al Hudaydah, Yemen.

Syed Muhammad Shoaib, PTCL’s group vice president of Interna­tional Busi­ness, said the company pa­­rtnership for the Africa-1 cable “aligns seamlessly with Pakistan’s Digital Vision 2030”.

It reflects “our commitment to empowering the communities by bridging the digital divide”.

Africa-1 is the second ca­­b­­le to have landed in Pakis­tan in as many months. Earlier in December, Trans­world Associates linked the Africa-2 cable to its landing station in Karachi. It is also expected to come online by next year.

Currently, six cables, with a capacity of 13tpbs, bring internet to Pakistan: Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1), South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 (SMW4) and India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE), managed by PTCL; and South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 5 (SMW-5) and Transworld Associates 1 (TWA-1), operated by Transworld Associates.

Cyber Internet Services operates the sixth cable named Pak­istan and East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE).

With input from APP

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2025